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Sparrow back home

Calypso King of the world, Slinger Mighty Sparrow Francisco plays with his nine-month-old grandson, Kona Williams, in the VIP Lounge at the Piarco International Airport yesterday after he returned home from New York. Sparrow, now recovered from a stroke last year, is looking froward to the Carnival season. PHOTO: SHIRLEY BAHADUR

Reputed calypso king of the world, the Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco), 78, returned home yesterday, after being in a coma in New York, to do Carnival performances and visit his family. Singing his calypso, Sparrow Dead, he appeared in good spirits and health as he spoke with members of the media at a news conference at Piarco International Airport. Sparrow arrived on a Caribbean Airlines flight around 1 pm. His wife, Margaret, daughter, Karen and baby grandson were with him. He said he may perform at tents and at the Mas Camp Pub. “I am ready for whatever happens,” he added. Sparrow said he was also hoping to raise some funds to pay for expenses incurred over the past few months.

Describing his illness, he said he was at death’s door. “I was in a coma and I come back. A coma is near death. I went through the wrong door and they send me back. They want to kill me now. When I was behaving bad, they didn’t want to kill me,” he joked. Sparrow said he can now walk and “dance a little bit” and was the happiest man alive. He said he was glad to be back home because there was no snow here. New York has been hit by severe snow storms. “I ain’t able with the kind of snow they have up there.” He said he would return to New York just after Carnival to see his doctors and replenish his medication which he has to take twice a day. He said he believed he could perform around the schedule, since an alarm on his medicine kit tells him when it’s time to take it. After he came out of the coma at Queen’s Hospital in New York last September, Sparrow was taken to a therapy facility where he had been steadily recovering.